Your dream PC-based DAW?

[G. Simon]

I'm building a home DAW for multi-track recording (via Sonar, Cubase, or something similar), and I'm in the midst of research - now you are part of my research, should you choose to help me:

How would you personally spec-out a new PC that I build myself? Please include things like chipset, OS, RAM, hard drives, A/V cards, I/O Ports, cooling, any other important data. Also include brand names and numbers - thanks!


-- Glenn

 

[the tortoise]

Hhmm, plenty of choices to be sure, but based on my own research;

Asus A8V Deluxe/A8N-SLI Motherboard - socket 939, VIA chipset
AMD Athlon 64 dual core 4400+ Toledo (1MB) CPU
Corsair RAM - 2GB
Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM 74GB SATA x 2 (one for OS, one for Audio)
Seagate Baraccuda 7,200RPM 300GB SATA (for storage/sample libraries)
QuietPC Thermaltake silent PSU 560W
Quiet PC acousticase super midi ATX
ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan
More fans for the case - a couple of Quiet PC Fixed Speed acoustifans for example
Matrox Millenium G550 Dual DVI graphics card
19" LCD monitors x 2
Some sort of fast DVD reader/writer
Optical wireless mouse/keyboard
Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Professional

Basically a slightly beefier version of the PC I'm about to build for myself.

The interface/DAW software/monitors are a whole other ball park that you should research as well and is down to your own personal preference. This PC should work well for anything but was specifically designed for use with Pro Tools.

Well, you did say 'dream' PC!

Have fun! (and don't forget to research like crazy, it's the only way you can be sure that everything wil be compatible in the end with whatever software you're running.)

the tortoise

 

[rockcamaro97]

Hhmm, plenty of choices to be sure, but based on my own research;

Asus A8V Deluxe/A8N-SLI Motherboard - socket 939, VIA chipset
AMD Athlon 64 dual core 4400+ Toledo (1MB) CPU
Corsair RAM - 2GB
Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM 74GB SATA x 2 (one for OS, one for Audio)
Seagate Baraccuda 7,200RPM 300GB SATA (for storage/sample libraries)
QuietPC Thermaltake silent PSU 560W
Quiet PC acousticase super midi ATX
ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan
More fans for the case - a couple of Quiet PC Fixed Speed acoustifans for example
Matrox Millenium G550 Dual DVI graphics card
19" LCD monitors x 2
Some sort of fast DVD reader/writer
Optical wireless mouse/keyboard
Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Professional

Basically a slightly beefier version of the PC I'm about to build for myself.

The interface/DAW software/monitors are a whole other ball park that you should research as well and is down to your own personal preference. This PC should work well for anything but was specifically designed for use with Pro Tools.

Well, you did say 'dream' PC!

Have fun! (and don't forget to research like crazy, it's the only way you can be sure that everything wil be compatible in the end with whatever software you're running.)

the tortoise

*bowdown!* IM going to be building me a new PC sometime next year for my station, and it wont be much off that...

Matt

 

[scrubs]

PC's are about the last thing I dream about.

 

[LemonTree]

I built this one last year.....

D.A.W.

PIV 3.0Ghz
Asus P4P 800-E Deluxe
1 Gig Kingmax DDR400 (2x 512 dual channel)
Maxtor 160Gig 7200rpm 8Meg cache system disk
Maxtor 60Gig 7200rpm 8Meg cache sample storage disk
Maxtor 80Gig SATA recording disk
Matrox Dual head 32Meg AGP video card
Dual 17" TFT displays
Samsung 52x CD/DVDR
NEC 16x CD/DVDRW
19" 4U Rackmount Antec case with Zalman silent cooling

SOUND CARDS/CONVERTORS

Delta 1010 24Bit/96KHz AD/DA
2xDelta 410 24Bit/96KHz AD/DA
giving 18in/30out


It runs 30 tracks easy in Cubase SX streaming back out to my mixer with plenty of plugins used, usualy sits around the 60-70% mark when a full mix is done. Runs about 37-42 degrees for the CPU and about 28-32 for the motherboard. I use win XP Pro and I've never had a single crash since I built it.

With the exception of adding more ram, this thing is futureproof for my needs for the next 5 years